Classical Symphony, Op. 25
Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1953)

THE STORY

    For his first symphony, Sergei Prokofiev looked back to the Classical style of Haydn and Mozart, whom he greatly admired. “It seemed to me that if Haydn had lived in our day, he would have retained his own style while accepting something of the new at the same time,” he wrote. “That’s the kind of symphony I wanted to compose.”
   Prokofiev started with light, airy scoring—a small orchestra about the same size as would have been typical in the Classical era—and wittily juxtaposed his own musical language with the conventions of the past. He mused that the critics would be “bound to scream in protest at this new example of Prokofiev's insolence” and imagined them saying, “look how he will not let Mozart lie quiet in his grave but must come prodding at him with his grubby hands, contaminating the pure classical pearls with horrible Prokofiev-ish dissonances.”
    Prokofiev was known to be a rule-breaker, but he went forward with integrating his digressions into traditional forms. The result is a work that captures the essence of Haydn or Mozart without a single measure that could actually have been written by either. The concise and playful symphony is full of charming—although sometimes spiky—melodies, and comes across as a breath of fresh air. 
    The 1918 premiere was conducted by Prokofiev himself. 

LISTEN FOR

• In the Allegro, the “correct” modulation from the key of D major to A major as the second theme begins—as if reassuring listeners that all is well—followed by the entirely unexpected shift to the “wrong key” of C major when the first theme returns
• The long, lyrical melody in violins that opens the Larghetto—and the return of that melody as the movement concludes, this time slowing down and fading out
• A brusque, foot-stomping gavotte that replaces what would typically be an elegant dance (the minuet) in the third movement 
• The outright joy of the fourth movement—a friend had asserted that there was no joyfulness in Russian music and Prokofiev countered with this finale, which is completely devoid of any minor chords and so jubilant that he wondered if it verged on being “indecently irresponsible”

INSTRUMENTATION

Two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, two horns, two trumpets, timpani, strings